Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1887-04-04
TALMAGE'S LIVE CHURCH.
The GREAT PREACHER BACK
FROM THE WEST.

Among the Characteristics of Such a
Congregation.
BROOKLYN, April 3.--The Rev. +. De-
Witt Talmage, ID. D., has returned from
the West, after an absence of nearly
three weeks, in which be preached and
lectured in fifteen cities to immense
throngs. A vast congregation was pres
ent at the tabernacle this morning, and
joined with fine ofect in singing the
hymn which begins:
Jesus shall reign where'er thesun
Does his successive Journeys rum"
DR.. Talmage's subject was: "a Live
Church." and his text Revelation, H.,
80: "Unto the angel of the church in
Smyrna write: These things saith the
trst and the last, which was dead, and is
alive; l know thy works, and tribula-
ton, and poverty, but thou art rich"
Smyrna was great city of the ancients,
bounded ON three sides mountains. 1t
was the central emporium OF The Levan-
tine trade. In that prosperous and bril-
liant city there vas Christian church
established. After il had existed for
awhile, 1T was rocked down by an earth
quake. 1t was rebuilt. Then 1t was
consumed by conflagration that swept
over the entire city. That church went
through fire, and trouble, and disaster,
but kept on to great spiritual prosperity.
The fact was that church had the grace
OF God, an ever active principle. Had 1t
been otherwise all the grandeur of archi-
lecture and all the pOmp of surroundings
would only have been the ornament of
death-the garlands OF a coffin, the
plumes of a hearse.
1t may be profitable to consider what
are the elements of live church.
remark in the first place, that one
characteristic OF such church is punctu-
ality in meeting its engagements. All &C.
clesiastical institutions have financial
relations, and they ought to meet their
obligations just as certainly as men meet
their obligations at the bank. When
church OF God is not as faithful In its
promises as the Bank of England. it
ceases to be church ofGod. 1t ought to
be understood that prayers cannot paint
church, and prayers cannot pay the
winters coal bill, and prayers cannot
meet the Insurance.; and that, while
prayers can do thousand things, there
are a thousand things that PRAYERS
cannot do. Prayer for any
particular church will never reach
Heaven high unless it goes down
pocket deep. In my church at the West.
I6.
who used to pray for his pastor in such
elongated style that he became "A nuisance
to the prayer meeting; asking God, in a
prayer that was almost without ceasing
tnat the pastor might be blessed in his
basket and In his store, while the fact
was he never paid anything. If we pray
for the advancement of the church, and
do not out of our means contribute for
its advancement, our prayer is only
Inf hn nh -
meet Its obligations on the outside, and
let the members of the congregation
meet the obligations on the inside, and
the church will be financially prosperous.
Let me say, also, that there must be
punctuality in the attendance on the
house of the Lord If the service begins
at half-past ten In the morning the regu-
lar congregation of live church will not
come at quarter TO eleven. If the SER
vice is to begin at half-past seven in the
evening. the regular congregation of a
live church Will not come at "A quarter to
eight. In some churches | have noticed
the people are always tardy. There are
some people who are always late. They
were born too late, and the probability is
they will die too late. The rustling OF
dresses up the aisle, aud the slamming of
doors, and the treading of heavy feet, is
poor inspiration for a minister. 1t re-
QulTeS great In u PASTORS
mind to proceed with the preliminary ex-
ercises of the church when One-half of the
audience seated are looking around to see
the other half come in. Such difference
of attendance upon the house of God may
be a difference of time-pieces; but the
live church OF which am speaking ought
to go by railroad time, and that is pretty
well understood in all our communities.
There is one hymn that ought to be sung
In a great many Christian families on
Sabbath morning:
''Early. my God, without delay.
haste to seek Thy place."
Another characteristic of live church
is the fact that all the people participate
in the exercises. A stranger can tell by
the way the first tune starts whether
there is any life there. A church that
does not sing is dead church. 1t is
awful TO find q cold driZzle of music com
ing down from the organ loft, while all
the people beneath sit IN silence. When
a tune wanders around. lonely and unbe-
friended, and is finally lost amid the
arches because the people do not Join in
it, there is not much melody made unto
the Lord. In heaven they all sing,
though some there cannot sing hall as
we'll as others. The Methodist church has
sung all around the world, and gone from
conquest to conquest, among other things
because 1t is singing church; and any
Christian church organization that with
enthusiasm performs this part of
its duty will 60 on from
triumph TO triumph. A church
OF God that can sing can do anything that
ought to be done. We go forth into this
molly war with the Bible in one hand and
ahymn-boOk IN the other. OF ye who used
10 sing the praises of the Lord, and have
got out of the habit, take your harps down
from the willows. am glad to know
that, as a church, we are making adj
vancement in this respect. When came
to be your pastor We had an excellent
choir IN the little chapel and they sang
very sweetly to US Sabbath by sabbath,
but ever and anon there WAS trouble, for
you know tnat the choirs in the United
States are the Waterloos where the great
battles 10 on. One Sunday they W i'll sing
like angels aud the next Sunday they will
be mad and will not sing at all. We re-
solved 10 settle all the difficulties, and
have one skilllul man at the organ and one
man TO do the work of precentor. and
now, from Sabbath to Sabbath, the song
comes up like the voice Of mighty thun.
derings.
''l.et those refuse 10 sing
Who never knew our God,
But children OF the Heavenly King
Should speak their Joys abroad
On the way TO triumph that never ends.
and pleasures that never dIe-singi
Another characteristic OF live church
Ia "A HOurlEhing sabbath school IL ia tno